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Positive Development from Vicious Circles to Virtuous Cycles Through Built Environment Design

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Positive Development from Vicious Circles to Virtuous Cycles Through Built Environment Design POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT FROM VICIOUS CIRCLES TO VIRTUOUS CYCLES THROUGH BUILT ENVIRONMENT DESIGN JANIS BIRKELAND Positive Development Positive Development ‘is is a wonderful book that should be on the desk of every architect and planner. It shows how our decisions about the built environment can be a positive contribution to shaping a sustainable future.’ Emeritus Professor Ian Lowe, President, Australian Conservation Foundation ‘One of the best books on sustainability I’ve read in a long time … clear, compelling, and dead on. e challenges of sustainability are fundamentally design problems and Janis Birkeland is a remarkably insightful guide to the transformation. Must reading.’ David Orr, Oberlin College, author of The Nature of Design and Ecological Literacy ‘Birkeland’s book takes the next step beyond Ian McHarg’s design with nature and Janine Benyus’s design like nature. It argues that design for nature, or “design for eco-services”, is long overdue, and explains how we can do it.’ Hunter Lovins, President and founder of the Natural Capitalism Solutions ‘A heralding work of how a positive and innovative design agenda for the built environment, underlined by an uncompromising valuation of ecology and nature’s services, can mobilize our eorts in becoming native to the planet.’ Michael Braungart, Professor of Material Flow Management at University Lüneburg, Germany and co-author of Cradle to Cradle ‘Drawing on her expertise in law, planning and design, Janis Birkeland always has something startling to say. And in an area dominated by so much utopian dreaming, she puts politics as well as careful analysis into sustainability. is book is an unusual, and heartening, combination of the radical and the realistic.’ Clive Hamilton, former Executive Director of e Australia Institute, author of Growth Fetish and co-author of Affluenza ‘While some are beginning to realise that we cannot continue to take resources from, and dump waste freely back on, our planet, there still pervades the notion that sustainable development is about minimizing the impacts of these actions. Birkeland convincingly argues that this cannot continue. She then shows us how we can “develop” in a way that replenishes and increases the planet’s life- giving services through “Net Positive Design”. I urge that this book be read and championed equally by our infrastructure designers as well as those working traditionally with buildings.’ David A. Hood, FIEAust CPEng, Chairman, Australian Green Infrastructure Council ‘is book provides a framework for an approach that brings together environmental management, policymaking, planning and sustainable design. It shows how design can increase the ecological base and public estate over pre-development site conditions. It is invaluable not just to designers but to all those whose work impinges on the environment.’ Ken Yeang, Architect, Llewelyn Davies Yeang, UK ‘Birkeland is one of the world’s leading thinkers on sustainable built environments. In this book she distils her wealth of experience into a very accessible text on how we can achieve net positive development, for urban and regional planning and design.’ e Natural Edge Project, authors of The Natural Advantage of Nations Positive Development From Vicious Circles to Virtuous Cycles through Built Environment Design Janis Birkeland publishing for a sustainable future London • Sterling, VA First published by Earthscan in the UK and USA in 2008 Copyright © Janis Birkeland, 2008 All rights reserved ISBN: 978-1-84407-578-2 hardback 978-1-84407-579-9 paperback Typeset by Safehouse Creative Printed and bound in the UK by MPG Books, Bodmin Cover design by Rob Watts For a full list of publications please contact: Earthscan Dunstan House 14a St Cross Street London EC1N 8XA UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7841 1930 Fax: +44 (0)20 7242 1474 Email: [email protected] Web: www.earthscan.co.uk 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-2012, USA Earthscan publishes in association with the International Institute for Environment and Development A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Birkeland, Janis, 1945- Positive development : from vicious circles to virtuous cycles through built environment design / Janis Birkeland. p. cm. ISBN 978-1-84407-579-9 (pbk.) -- ISBN 978-1-84407-578-2 (hardback) 1. Ecological engineering. 2. Sustainable development. 3. Sustainable architecture. I. Title. GE350.B58 2008 628--dc22 2008011448 e paper used for this book is FSC-certied. FSC (the Forest Stewardship Council) is an international network to promote responsible management of the world’s forests. To my ancestors, family and progeny Contents Figures and Tables x Preface xi Acknowledgements xiii Reader’s Map xiv Introduction: Sustainability versus Negativity xv Section A: Redefining the Problem and Goals 1 Chapter 1: Design for Eco-services From design for sterility to design for fertility 3 Chapter 2: e Case for Eco-retrotting From impact mitigation to net positive impacts 23 Chapter 3: Sustainable Urban Form From spatial minimization to spatial amplification 43 Section B: Critique of Methods,Tools and Processes in Building Design 61 Chapter 4: Development Standards and Criteria From ‘designed waste’ to zero waste 63 Chapter 5: Building Rating Tools From best practice to a sustainability standard 83 Chapter 6: Design Methods From eco-efficient to eco-productive buildings 97 Section C: Critique of Methods, Tools and Processes in Environmental Management 115 Chapter 7: Urban Sustainability Assessment From predicting negative impacts to adding value 117 Chapter 8: Regional Sustainability Audits From invisible to transparent resource transfers 131 Chapter 9: Sustainability Reporting From environmental accounting to management accountability 147 Section D: Critique of Trends in Strategies, Incentives and Planning 163 Chapter 10: Futures inking Tools From predicting the unpredictable to expanding future options 165 Chapter 11: Eco-service Trading Schemes From emissions tradeoffs to eco-service credits 181 Chapter 12: Bioregional Planning From choosing among current options to designing futures 201 Positive Development Section E: A framework for Eco-governance and Management 217 Chapter 13: Constitution for Eco-governance From interest balancing to ethical frameworks 219 Chapter 14: Reversing Resource Transfers From pyramidal to positive resource distribution 235 Chapter 15: e SmartMode Process From technocratic to integrated planning and design 251 Section F: Boxes 275 Box 1 Net Positive Development 277 Box 2 Eco-logical design dened 278 Box 3 Examples of net Positive Development 279 Box 4 Green Scaolding versus double skins 281 Box 5 Green Scaolding retrot 282 Box 6 Deconstruction (Neil Seldman) 283 Box 7 Excuses for not retrotting 284 Box 8 Retrotting the suburbs 285 Box 9 Solar Core 286 Box 10 Linear-reductionist urban analysis 287 Box 11 Urban density, compactness and urban form (Greg Bamford) 288 Box 12 e social dimension of urban consolidation (Patrick Nicol Troy) 289 Box 13 Water and sewage management (Sarah West) 290 Box 14 Advantages of eco-roofs (Linda S. Velazquez) 292 Box 15 Net Positive (physical) Development criteria 294 Box 16 Making positive impacts (Sonia Sales Mendoza) 295 Box 17 Urban wind energy 296 Box 18 Solar powering the future (Keith Lovegrove) 299 Box 19 E-waste (Robin Tennant-Wood) 300 Box 20 Designing for successful failure (Paul Bannister) 301 Box 21 e case of the steel-frame housing 302 Box 22 Green building guidelines 303 Box 23 Digital modelling for sustainability (Robin Drogemuller and John Frazer) 307 Box 24 Typology of green aesthetic orientations 309 Box 25 Solar design myth-conceptions 310 Box 26 Contextual design (the case of plastic) 311 Box 27 Spectrum of design approaches 312 Box 28 Green building and product procurement (David Baggs) 313 Box 29 Tools for specifying green building products (David Baggs) 314 Box 30 Evolution toward Positive Development 315 Box 31 Potential of ows analyses 316 Box 32 Tools for capturing regional synergies (Glen Corder) 317 Box 33 Enhancing supply chain performance (Kumar Venkat) 318 viii Box 34 Making progress (Richard Eckersley) 319 Box 35 From SoE to sustainability reporting for cities (Peter W. Newton) 320 Box 36 Certication and labelling (Tim Cadman) 321 Box 37 Ethical investment (Konrad Knerr) 322 Box 38 Engaging the public in sustainability planning (Dave Biggs) 323 Box 39 Closing loops between sectors 324 Box 40 Linking policies to outcomes (Ian Swain) 325 Box 41 Eco-service osets versus credits 327 Box 42 Economic valuation of eco-services 329 Box 43 Problems with pricing eco-services 331 Box 44 Measuring living wall performance (Yael Stav) 332 Box 45 Decision trees – Terminal and reversible 333 Box 46 Community management of ecosystems (David Eastburn) 334 Box 47 Wagga Wagga Eco-industrial Park (Sharon Stacy) 335 Box 48 Equity Mapping (James Byrne) 336 Box 49 Conventional approach to regulation 337 Box 50 Organic waste to farms (Gerry Gillespie) 338 Box 51 Precycling insurance (James Greyson) 339 Box 52 Negative resource transfers 340 Box 53 Converting negatives into positives 341 Box 54 Reversing the role of fashion (Fabia Pryor) 342 Glossary 343 Notes 351 Biographies of contributors 387 Index 393 ix Positive Development Figures and Tables Figures Figure 1 Eco-retrotting example 9 Figure 2 What we do and do not measure 21 Figure 3 Eco-retrotting example 31 Figure 4 Eco-retrotting historic buildings 33 Figure 5 Levels of eco-retrotting 40 Figure
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